In a conventional counterbalanced lift truck, the operator sits behind a front mounted mast. In an effort to improve visibility through the mast, others have suggested using a carriage lift ram with a low collapsed height such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,394,778; 2,581,791; 4,191,092 and 4,191,276. Also in an effort to improve visibility, others have used a pair of lift jacks disposed laterally adjacent to the lift truck mast uprights thus leaving the center of the mast more open than would be the case if the lift jacks were positioned centrally on the mast. Such constructions are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,456,320 and 4,030,568 and in an article entitled "A Trend in Lift Trucks--the `See-Through` Mast!" on pages 78-81 of the April 1980 issue of the Modern Material Handling magazine. In the present invention, a pair of three-element lift jacks are disposed behind the uprights of the primary section of the mast and above the connections of the tilt jacks with the primary section uprights. The three-element lift jacks are preferably of uniform speed, such as described in an article entitled "Telescoping Cylinder Stages Extend, Retract Simultaneously, at Constant Speed" on pages 144-148 of the October 1979 issue of the Hydraulics & Pneumatics magazine. In the beforementioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,191,092 and 4,191,276, four and three-element lift jacks are disclosed which provide uniform lift speeds.